Abstract

This paper reports on a small scale action research project concerning subject lecturers' and English for Academic Purposes (EAP) learners' understandings and experiences of writing in a UK university setting and considers how this can usefully inform the testing (and teaching) of academic writing on pre-sessional EAP programmes. The research used interviews with both academic staff and international students to explore notions of academic writing in different subject areas, and the ways in which students’ understandings developed as they progressed further into academic study. The changes in viewpoints have implications for pre-sessional teaching and testing, and for the further teaching of writing within subject departments.